Those shots are done after the shooting with the actors and actresses is complete.

Wells looks at Rocksy (Christopher Daley) in an extended running scene, face on to the camera and when The Sunday Gleaner asks if this is the opening scene she says, "I would like it to be."

"I'm using it to grab people and establish his character," Wells says. And she explains that in a movie, sometimes there are early shots that are not necessarily from that moment, but which the movie eventually works its way to. "It's not a unique opening, but ... ," she says.

a different animal

And her expression is a cross between dreamy and excited as she says, "I would like to open with three minutes of just running, but I don't know if it is enough."

Her approach to the editing process is to look at all the material and then make decisions, rather than persons who prefer to begin the lengthy, involved process right off the bat. "It is not like following a script," she points out. "It is a different animal. The script is a blueprint."

Wells explains that Christopher Daley is the most experienced cast member. Most of the cast was in rehearsal for six months before shooting began "and it paid off. It's not just about lines. It's how they deliver them."

"That has been part of our failings (in the Jamaican film industry). The actors don't play enough. The actors feel they have to be somebody else and not themselves," Wells says, going on to comment on the difference between stage and movie acting.

"You can't fake it. Some of you has to be in there, the vulnerability," Wells says.

- Mel Cooke